BB how long ?

[Blade96]

Thanks, I need it. Stress is NOT my friend...

Don't worry. Some wise shotokanka told me to make friends with your butterflies and your stress. Because having stress means that you understand the importance of the event and the importance of what is about to happen.

This was told to me when I was a white belt and about to have my own grading to pass from white to yellow.

Another wise one in my dojo, Yondan, also told me that in his opinion the two hardest ones are the yellow belt test and the black belt. Guess I did ok by passing the yellow, my Yondan told me after that he failed his the first time.

I thought this advice might help in your case as well.

 

[Sandpaperhead]

My instructor has yet to give a black belt to any of his students... I think he expects a few thousand hours of training before administering a black belt. How he got his blackbelt was one day the grandmaster came over while he was training, pulled him aside and handed it to him.

According to my instructor though it takes about 5 years before black belt... but there are practitioners of this style that take longer.

About 5 year old kids... my instructor doesn't like teaching people under 15.

 

[Kyosanim]

I realize why this is an issue, but I think to much emphasis is placed on rank in the martial arts especially the dan grades. Why not just do the art for the sake of doing it? Just because your a black belt does not mean you can't be beaten.

Just my perspective.

 

[Big Don]

Five years and two days

 

[Cirdan]

Congrats, Big Don!

artyon:

 

[tellner]

It depends very much on what a "Black Belt" means in your system. And that is as artificial and socially-constructed as everything else related to martial arts ranks.

If it means "Can maintain his own training in the basic formal curriculum" that's one thing.

If it means "Can pass on the entire system by himself and raise others to the point where they can" that's different.

If it means "Can hold his own in a fight with the other Black Belts" it's something else entirely.

Pick your definition. That will answer the question.

 

[Maiden_Ante]

I think you're required to train at least for five years in my dojo... but I'd guess it takes more time for most people since they might not graduate every term.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I voted 5-10, but it seems that 4-8 would be more accurate. There have been (as always...) exceptions by those with prior training. Since we joined this school, there has been one BB promotion, after (I think) 10 years of training. And one to Cho Don Bo who has been with the school for about 6 years. This is a WTF affiliated school, Moo Duk Kwan, using the Palgwe forms for geup ranks.

June will be one year at this school for my wife and I and 4 months for my daughter. My wife is currently 7th geup, and my daughter will likely test for her 8th geup in June. My wife and I train 2-3 classes/week, each 2-2.5 hours long, and train about 2 hours a day at home, including class days. My daughter is 21 and lives alone, but I think she gets in about an hour a day, and on class days she comes over and works with me for about an hour before class. I think both of them are at or slightly ahead of the 'average'.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Traditional CMA, we don't have any belt ranks so I guess the answer would be never

 

[Shifu Steve]

First of all in my opinion I think the only ranks that matter are student, teacher, and master. Everything else is filler. You learn until you’re ready to teach. You teach until you have mastered the content. Once you’ve mastered the content you continue to learn, improve, and see things in new ways. I didn't vote because I think how long it took me personally is irrelevant. I know phenomenal fighters that should not be given permission to teach within their systems. They cannot convey the information they’ve learned effectively. My understanding is that the black belt rank is the first rank that formally recognizes the student can teach others. This is a great responsibility and can impact the lineage of the style or system. It’s for this reason that I think there should be no average time it should take to achieve such a rank. It’s dependant on the student.

Those particular ranks matter to me because they hold significance. Not everyone is equipped to teach and not every teacher has mastered their subject(s). The whole belt ranking system is beyond me. I don’t know this for a fact (I’m sure someone on this site does) but isn’t the belt system relatively new (like in the last 100 years)?

 

[Brandon Fisher]

Those that cannot on convey info but are technically very good is where the saying that there are black belts and then there are sensei's comes from.

 

[Milt G.]

Hello,

I think that four to five years is optimal for promotion to Shodan, or 1st black. Of course this will vary some from practitioner to practitioner.

NEVER less then three years.

Thank you,
Milt G.

 

[Balrog]

I think there's an option missing from the poll:

As long as it needs to.

 

[Steve]

It's still an average of 10 years in BJJ, I think. I know that my coach just promoted his first two black belts this last weekend. They've both been training for a long time. Bill has been training for about 10 years and Todd's been training for closer to 14 years.

 

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Where I got my Black belt, the shortest I know was 4years.
This guy trained in class 4-5 times a week and he also trained at home 3-4 hours a week. He got his SHodan and a year later he was gone.

The longest took 12 years.

I took 5.

In the school we run now, we have 6 Kyu ranks, you will spend 9 months to a year and a half at each rank, depending on attendence, ability and spirit/commitment.

We won't train children, I do a kids class but it's a hodgpodge of things I hav learned in all the arts I have studied and geared towards little kids having fun and become aware of how to move their bodies. I dont have ranks in this class.

My Son's will be let in under 14 but only if they get a Shodan in another art or do a combat sport for awhile. That be the only way I can see someone under 18 becoming a Black belt. If they were a Legacy, earned a Belt somewhere else and then trained with us and acts like a grown up.

 

[mcmoon]

First of all in my opinion I think the only ranks that matter are student, teacher, and master. Everything else is filler. You learn until you’re ready to teach. You teach until you have mastered the content. Once you’ve mastered the content you continue to learn, improve, and see things in new ways. I didn't vote because I think how long it took me personally is irrelevant. I know phenomenal fighters that should not be given permission to teach within their systems. They cannot convey the information they’ve learned effectively. My understanding is that the black belt rank is the first rank that formally recognizes the student can teach others. This is a great responsibility and can impact the lineage of the style or system. It’s for this reason that I think there should be no average time it should take to achieve such a rank. It’s dependant on the student.

Those particular ranks matter to me because they hold significance. Not everyone is equipped to teach and not every teacher has mastered their subject(s). The whole belt ranking system is beyond me. I don’t know this for a fact (I’m sure someone on this site does) but isn’t the belt system relatively new (like in the last 100 years)?

yea the belt ranking system came from judo

 

[ap Oweyn]

Took me about 10 years to earn a black belt. Though that was completely unrelated to style or organization. I nearly got a black belt in taekwondo, then left the system and began the whole affair again in eskrima. Got a black belt in eskrima in 94. And haven't set foot in a ranking system since.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

After reading the thread 1 in 2000 I think it may be time to review a thread topic which I know has been used before:
How long dose it take to make Black Belt in your school/organization/ system?
Under 2 years
2-4 years
3-5 years
5-10 years
10 plus years
Now give an average because we all know some get there faster than others.
Also if a student starts at say age 5 when is the earliest he can reach Black Belt?
If you want you may add the requirements for BB, number of forms, number of self-defense moves, etc.

I answered three to five as it applies to students that I teach privately.

I keep students in the current rank material until they are reasonably proficient in it. One student was 10th geub for four months. Another for eight. I won't move them to the next grade material for at least three months. This is not accounting for students who have previous experience in a similar art who can just pick it up toot sweet. So far, however, I don't have any of those.

Daniel